The Flying Dustbin (No. 406)

First Aired Monday, October 26, 2009

"The Flying Dustbin" is the success story of the Fulmar, a seabird which numbers 500,000 pairs in the UK but was virtually unknown as a breeding species at the turn of the last century. The film documents the reasons for its success, but is also a warning. The Fulmar faces some very serious modern problems, 9 out of 10 Fulmars in the North Sea have plastic in their stomachs whilst global warming is diminishing its natural prey stocks, leading to breeding failures. The film was shot at various locations around Scotland including Aberdeenshire, the Orkney Islands, and St. Kilda, as well as in the Netherlands.